would you do it?

Peggy Holman peggy at opencirclecompany.com
Sun Jun 28 15:00:49 PDT 2009 

Hello Eva,

To the many questions and suggestions you've received, I'll add a  
story.  I was asked to do a keynote at a conference on Open Space.   
Since Harrison had sent them my way because he had a conflict and had  
originally intended to do it, I didn't think twice.  I said "yes".   
Then I discovered that what they wanted for the keynote was an Open  
Space.  They were expecting 150 people and I had... 1.5 hours!

Since this story is in the OSlist archives, I've copied it below.

One last item about this story that I discovered recently.  It turns  
out that the person who wanted the OS keynote was Steve Cady, who  
joined with Tom Devane and me for the second edition of The Change  
Handbook.  Steve had never seen an Open Space.  It was his way of  
experiencing the process and he had no idea what he was asking by  
requesting it be done in 1.5 hours.

appreciatively,
Peggy



On Aug 3, 2004, at 3:57 PM, Peggy S. Holman wrote:

> Ralph -- I had a really different experience with 90 minutes.  I'm  
> guessing
> that it was because the topic was real (not just a demo).
>
> It was the keynote for the Bowling Green MSOD Alumni conference.  They
> wanted the 150 or so participants to experience Open Space.  After  
> my first
> thought of "impossible", I thought, "why not?"
>
> It worked incredibly well!  I was amazed at the energy of the group  
> and that
> they really did move from topic to topic.  It was like watching a  
> speeded up
> video of an OS.  For the closing circle, I invited people to reflect  
> using a
> word or phrase.  This actually left time in the closing for Q&A on  
> OST.
>
> Mind you, I did this for graduates of an OD program who were as  
> interested
> in the form as they were the content of the gathering.
>
> My take on it was that it would be impossible to do any subject  
> justice in
> 90 minutes.  Given that,
> rather than set the expectation of even one quality conversation,  
> use the
> time for another purpose: to invite people to notice who else has  
> passion
> for the same topics as you.  20 minutes to open, three 15 minute  
> sessions,
> 20 minutes to close about does it.  In that time, people will find  
> out the
> range of subjects of interest and who else cares about them.   
> They'll be
> able to touch in with the folks they meet after the OS.  And another
> benefist
> is that it leaves participants with a very different embodied  
> experience of
> what OST is.
>
>
> Joe -- to your second question - OS at a conference.  I have also  
> done this.
> It was a conference track that ran in parallel with other more  
> traditinal
> sessions for the last 2 days of a three day conference.  Some people  
> stayed
> for the whole OS, others floated in and out.  They loved it.
>
> home in Seattle at last,
> Peggy
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ralph Copleman" <rcopleman at comcast.net>
> To: <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
> Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 2004 6:41 AM
> Subject: [OSLIST] Brief demonstrations
>
>
>> Joe Bowers, Harrison and all,
>>
>> I agree that doing an OS demonstration is challenging.  I did a 90- 
>> minute
>> version once for a group of colleagues.  Had three 20-minute sessions
>> squeezed in.  It was awful.  Everybody looked bored.  Never again.
>>
>> On the other hand, I did a 30-minute thing for a client once  
>> involving the
>> top 20 managers in an American airline company.  They kept pressing  
>> me for
>> an explanation, so during a break I hurriedly made the posters and  
>> stuck
>> them on the walls.  Then I reconvened everyone in a circle and did  
>> the
>> opening.  That's all.  No postings.  No actual open space.
>>
>> They loved it.  A month later I was doing a one-day event for them to
>> explore their frequent-flier program, customers included.
>>
>> Ralph Copleman
>>
>> *
>> *
>> ==========================================================
>> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
>> ------------------------------
>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
>> view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
>> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
>>
>> To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
>> http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
>>
>
> *
> *
> ==========================================================
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> ------------------------------
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
> view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
>
> To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
> http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist

______________________________
Peggy Holman
The Open Circle Company
15347 SE 49th Place
Bellevue, WA  98006
425-746-6274
www.opencirclecompany.com
www.journalismthatmatters.org

For the new edition of The Change Handbook, go to:
www.bkconnection.com/ChangeHandbook

"An angel told me that the only way to step into the fire and not get  
burnt, is to become
the fire".
   -- Drew Dellinger






On Jun 25, 2009, at 3:49 AM, Eva P Svensson wrote:

> Hello!
> I have been asked to do an Open Space with about 800 people. That’s  
> great – BUT as it’s looks right now – there will only be 1,5 hours  
> timeframe for the entire thing……
> What do you think about that? Would you recommend to go for it –  
> what would you do????
> I know I have done a taster on OS in 1,5 hour with 100 people and it  
> went well – but 800…
> What would you do?
> Sunny warm greetings from Sweden
> :o)
> Eva
>
> Bästa hälsningar
>
> Eva P Svensson
>
> EPS Human Invest AB
> Member of Beyond Performance Group
>
> "Verksamhetsutveckling genom människor skapar långsiktigt välmående  
> företag och organisationer"
>
> Anåsbergsvägen 22, 439 34 ONSALA
> Besöksadress; Norra Allégatan 8, Göteborg
> Tfn: 0300-615 05, Mobil; 0706- 89 85 50
> www.epshumaninvest.se
> Skype: eva.p.svensson
> Besök gärna min blogg; www.epshumaninvest.blogspot.com/
> "Jag kan inte lära dig något. Allt jag kan göra är att ställa frågor  
> till dig, och låta dig själv finna svaren." Sokrates
>
> * * ========================================================== OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU 
>  ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change  
> your options, view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html 
>  To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist


*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openspacetech.org/pipermail/oslist-openspacetech.org/attachments/20090628/7c11af3c/attachment-0016.htm>

More information about the OSList mailing list